


Second Chances

by HanaHimus



Category: Kikaider
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canonical Character Death, Gen, My friend said 'Saburo Live Challenge' in a discord server so here we are, Temporary Character Death, each chapter is a different verse/adapation of Kikaider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-02 11:31:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17263466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HanaHimus/pseuds/HanaHimus
Summary: If Saburo somehow didn't stay dead.





	1. Tokusatsu

**Author's Note:**

> New Year, New Fic babey!!!
> 
> Anyway. I cried about Saburo in a discord server last night/early as hell this morning and had to write about him. Self indulgent as FUCK.
> 
> Starting with the toku version bc that's what I finished the most recently, and w things like Mitsuko talking about Komyoji rebuilding Saburo + Jiro talking about both Saburo AND Komyoji dying if Mitsuko didn't operate on her own father I felt it'd be the best starting place.

Komyoji had decided to step away from the world of advanced robot post the DARK base being destroyed. He had realized that it would bring nothing but strife, with human beings undeniably using the creations for evil… But when Mitsuko and Jiro approached him with a broken body that had, apparently, recently held his brain, he thought of making an exception.

Hakaider had been built by him while he was under the influence of drugs, a perfect warrior made to kill his elder brother. The demon circuit he had been tasked with implanting in the cyborg was worrying, Komyoji was certain he couldn’t remove it without removing the essence of Hakaider’s human form.

Usually, he wouldn’t be too worried about that. He would still be able to rebuild Hakaider into a ‘fine mechanical man’ as Mitsuko put it when she recounted her promise to the cyborg… But it seemed clear that, to at least some degree, his children did care about the human form Hakaider had already taken. They cared about Saburo.

So he had to try and find a way to fix him without removing the circuit. Eventually, he was able to settle on something that would hopefully balance out the evil that brought… An incomplete Conscience Circuit, similar to Jiro’s. Ideally, a complete one would totally cancel out the evil, but… Well, there was only one complete circuit out there and he didn’t have access to it anymore.

He would just have to hope the incomplete one would do enough to allow Saburo a life outside hunting his brother.

It took an entire night of work, and hunting down a proper brain to place within him, while his children dreamed of their soon to be new home in Switzerland and Jiro thought of how he was explain that he would not be going with them to the Mitsuko and Masaru… But he did his best to keep his focus on the body in front of him.

He pulled away, rubbing sweat from his forehead, a frown on his face. The real test would be activating him and seeing how he interacted with those around him. That would be for the morning, before they all returned to packing.

He didn’t sleep for the few hours he could when he finished, worry coursing through his mind. From what he had been told, both he and Jiro could be at immediate risk when activated. Mitsuko and Masaru might not be any safer if they were with them…

And so, when Jiro made himself known, it was time to activate Hakaider again.

The cyborg rose from the table, slowly as Komyoji’s heart squeezed in his chest. For a moment he simply stared forward… Had the circuits conflicted enough that he would be inoperable?

“Hakaider.” Jiro spoke up, the first to speak to his newly fixed brother. “Hakaider, say something!”

Hakaider finally turned to look at them, standing slowly as he reached for the Hakaider Shot. Soon enough the barrel of the gun was pointed straight at Jiro, Hakaider’s finger right on the trigger… But he never squeezed it.

Instead his hand fell to his side as he stared at them, body shifting for battle form to human. The look on Jiro’s face told Komyoji it was indeed still Saburo that was looking back at them. At least appearance wise.

“Saburo…” Jiro spoke again. “You are Saburo, aren’t you.”

A nod. “I think I am… I remember you. Mitsuko and Masaru, too… But…”

“But?” Komyoji frowned, a hand on his head. Was there an issue?

“I can’t bring myself to kill Kikaider.” He stood, the dagger in his hand being placed back within his boot. “Something is wrong with me.”

“Nothing is wrong with you.” Jiro shook his head. “The doctor did that by choice. This way, you can find a path for yourself, one that won’t lead you to being besides yourself when you reach a goal.”

Saburo thought for a moment, a grimace on his face. “A way to make sure both of you don’t end up killed by me, then. That’s… Fine, I guess.”

Komyoji furrowed his brow. “Are you not happy?”

“I don’t know what to do with myself.”

“At least this time you aren’t going on a rampage because of that.” Jiro spoke up again. “Isn’t that nice?”

Saburo looked at his hands, still clearly displeased by all of this. “...I guess it is. But it doesn’t do me much good when I have no idea where to go from here.”

Jiro took a step forward, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You can come with me. Refine yourself to make up for the incomplete Conscience Circuit.”

“Ah.” Saburo pushed Jiro’s hand from his shoulder. “That’s why I can’t kill you. That’s interfering with my programming.”

Jiro held out his hand to Saburo. “It’ll be for the best, Saburo. My offer for you to come with me still stands.”

Komyoji watched as Saburo slowly took Jiro’s hand and, in that moment, he felt fine with what he had done. He could leave for Switzerland with his children in a week’s time with no worry, knowing Jiro would be fine and not alone. A small smile came to his face.

The sound of Mitsuko and Masaru began coming through the walls, it seemed they were up now. “We should go see them. I’m sure they’ll want to see the results of my work.”

Jiro turned to look at Komyoji, nodding. “Yes!”

“Alright.” Saburo nodded as well, following after the two of them. “Let’s see where this takes us.”


	2. Manga

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this one was hard to even THINK of what to do for it, but. Eh, it's done. Anime is next/last.

Mitsuko hadn’t expected to come back to Japan for a visit only to find her family’s home destroyed. The shock had wracked her body, bringing her to her knees. Where was Rieko? Ichiro?  _ Jiro? _

She didn’t think twice before she began searching the area. She needed to find some sign of him being alive, being well… But there was nothing at all to be found where her house had once stood.

Mitsuko refused to give up, though. Jiro  _ had  _ to be out there if she’d found nothing that made it seem like he had died, right? She wasted no time employing Hattori Hanpei to help her once again in trying to hunt him down.

For a while, nothing was coming up and she felt the visit was going to be in vain. Had she come only to learn those left behind had died? Was happiness where her family  _ and  _ Jiro were all together impossible?

It was seeming like that, not a clue to lead her to Jiro… Until she stumbled upon a pure black, metallic body. Laying in a ditch, the glass dome of its head smashed open. She gagged when the odor of a rotting brain hit her nose, looking away from the gruesome sight for a moment…

But this could be a clue. Her father had spoken of a cyborg he’d been forced to make, the one his head had been inserted into. She was  _ sure  _ this had to be it. Maybe it had seen what happened to Jiro, maybe she could get a clue from it.

She wasted no time getting Hanpei to help her drag the body back to the car, both of them gagging and retching all the way. The stench was horrible… But this needed to be done.

Soon enough, they were back at what used to be her home. Mitsuko thanked Hanpei for his help, paid him his fee, and went about dragging the body of what her father had called ‘Hakaider’ and ‘Saburo’ to the still standing basement lab.

No time was wasted before the cyborg was strapped down and Mitsuko got to work. Pushing and prodding at things to figure out what all was broken. It seemed as if the circuits allowing it to move its arms and legs were disconnected, but that was fine. She didn’t need Hakaider running around or hurting her when she was trying to get information.

The next part was much harder for her, and she was running on a strict time limit. A week of vacation left and she had to get her hands on a brain and do her best to put it in Hakaider. Hopefully she wouldn’t mess up, seeing as she was sure getting even one would be a miracle…

She was entirely too lucky when an old friend of her father’s gave her one when she told him it was in ‘the name of science’. Mitsuko just hoped she wasn’t asked how her research had gone later on.

It was terrifying trying to connect the brain into the head of the cyborg, but she was sure she had it after a while of struggling. After reminding herself Hakaider wouldn’t be able to get up and come after her, she activated it.

The red eyes lit up and began looking around. “Where am I?”

“What used to be my father’s lab.” Mitsuko did her best to keep her voice steady. “Where’s Jiro?”

“Kikaider? I don’t know.” Hakaider’s voice was steady. “I don’t remember anything past when Gill revealed that Komyoji’s brain was…”

He trailed off and the two were left, staring each other down. Mitsuko could feel her heart dropping as the words processed in her head. If that was the case, he would have no clue where Jiro had went.

“Are you being truthful?”

“I have no reason to lie. If I knew where Kikaider was, I’d be hunting him down.” A pause. “Or I’d be trying to, but it seems I can’t move.”

“Ah, I didn’t fix your arms or legs. I was… Worried you may attack me.” Mitsuko frowned at him. “And I just wanted to know where Jiro was. Where I found your body… I thought you might…”

It was her turn to trail off, though she let her eyes move to her feet. Oh, how she wished she’d tried harder to convince him to come along with her and her family. How she wished she hadn’t said goodbye to him…

“Hey.” Hakaider spoke again. “If you fix me, I can find him for you.”

Mitsuko frowned, looking up at him. “I can’t trust you. What if you hurt him?”

“I didn’t hurt him the last time I faced him.”

“Father told me that was because of his brain!” Mitsuko shook her head. “I won’t be fooled that easily.”

A laugh. “Good luck finding him on your own, then. A human like you is  _ sure  _ to have better luck than me, right?”

Mitsuko said nothing and, without even thinking to deactivate him again, left what remained of her family’s home.


	3. Anime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last one, woo hoo

Masaru didn’t know why they kept Hakaider’s head after they got his father’s brain back in his body. He wanted to ask someone, but he was worried he’d just be scolded and told ‘little boys shouldn’t worry about that’ or something. When things with Jiro had happened, he’d been left out of the loop a lot…

And he was sure that would be the case now.

So he tried not to say anything, but as the weeks went on it got harder and harder to do that. Something about the head kept changing, just a little, every time he went to peek at it again. For a while, he couldn’t place his finger on what…

Then he noticed. It was more than just a head now! It took him a while to notice, but when Hakaider had a chest again, he couldn’t not notice! How was this happening? Was his dad doing it…? Or Mitsuko…?

Oh! Maybe Hakaider was somehow rebuilding himself! That was a scary thought.

In fact, he started having nightmares about it. He still didn’t tell his father or sister about what was worrying him, though. They might tell him he was being silly and that nothing was really happening. They never went into the storage room where they kept the head, after all.

But Masaru made it a habit to go in there whenever he could. Just to see how much more Hakaider there was. He had to admit, it got to be really scary when Hakaider got his legs and arms back too. He was basically complete, well… Minus a brain. Hopefully that meant he wouldn’t move.

He had to check every day to make sure he didn’t move, though. Every day he had to make sure the cyborg’s body didn’t move from the place he sat ever since being completed. For a long time, there was no movement. Masaru started to calm down about it, let his guard down…

And then one night, while trying to go to the bathroom, he ran right into Hakaider. Hakaider, walking right out of the room he was being stored in, a brain suddenly in his head. He wanted to scream, but no sound came out. Any words caught in his throat when Hakaider stared down at him.

“W… W…”

Hakaider shifted forms, into a man that Masaru had heard Mitsuko refer to as ‘Saburo’ once and he held a finger to his lips. Shushing the boy. Masaru nodded, too afraid to find out what would happen if he did anything else.

Saburo turned on his heel and walked away. Masaru stared after him until he was  _ sure _ he was out of sight and then ran back to his room, forgetting about the bathroom and he hid under his covers. This had to be a nightmare…!

And when he got up the next morning, he thought it was. He’d had a nightmare about Hakaider being active because he checked on him so much! If he looked again today, the cyborg was sure to still be laying there, brainless.

So he peeked into the room, ready to calm himself…

And Hakaider was gone. It hadn’t been a dream.

“D-Dad…! Sis…!” He turned away from the door, voice raising in fear. There was a killer robot loose!


End file.
